Leaving aside the merits of the saints whom I do not have any personal contact with but just coming to the issue, there are three things to be considered.
The reaction of women is primarily because of two reasons. First of all they think why only they are being targeted and why not the boys also. Though if i remember right the comment was made for both the genders. While there is some truth in it, there is a certain amount of insensitivity involved, a censorious judgmental spirit that condescendingly looks down upon others from a high moral ground. Now this approach which was once used by the elders to control and maintain social order is now invalid and doesn’t work in our present times. The Time Spirit has broken it. No more hypocrisy and artificially but the authentic expression of what we feel from within. This is because we have entered an individualistic subjective age where each one choses in one’s own freedom and goes through their own learning experiences. The binary way of looking at life that moralists adopt, that is to say cutting things into a clear cut right and wrong, good and bad imposed arbitrarily by external authority is being replaced by an integral and unified way of looking at things which is in fact closer to Vedantic approach as was adopted in ancient India. Here things have to be seen on an evolutionary axis of constant progression. It is this wider and plastic approach that we find in India of old which led to its greatness. Otherwise from moral point of view even Arjuna and Bhim and many others would be placed in the grey zone. Right now women are riding on the wave of their new found freedom after centuries of oppression. One can understand the excitement. It will settle down as the evolutionary force helps us move forward.
Secondly, one cannot judge a person’s character only by the dress or the number of persons one has married. I have met some beautiful men and women who were in a live-in relationship whereas some very ugly and even wicked men and women who dressed conventionally, knew the scriptures and were followed all the rituals. Besides live-in relationship is not new to ancient India. That is how the concept of Gandharva vivah came into existence. Even certain classical examples exist, for example Bhimsen’s marriage to Hidimba, marraige of Rishis to Titaness, two or three marraiges, live-in of Arjun with Uloopie and Chitrangada, of Pururavas and Urvasie, of Rishi Parashara and Satyavati giving birth to the greatest of rishis Vedvyas, the birth of Shakuntala, of the legendary Bharat, of Satyakama Jabali, marraige of Shantanu with Ganga and later with Satyavati, many others. How are these mahatmas going to explain all this by simply a rigid moral doctrine. I am leaving aside the life of Lord Krishna aside. A spiritual person has to see things from the spiritual and not the ordinary moral point of view. He should be able to see a Valmiki hidden inside the murderer, a heart of purity in a ganika or a fallen Ahalya, the spirit of truth and love behind the twice married Tara. He should also be able to see Kalanemi behind the sannyasi’s robe and a Ravan hiding behind his scriptural knowledge. It is easy to look and speak like a saint but very difficult to be one.
Lastly is the question of how to address this issue. Yes without a doubt, young girls and boys do wear quite nonsensical even comical dresses, do foolish things. But the way to address this issue is not by condemning them. That would simply mean losing them. Even if we think they are lost we should help them understand the implications of their actions. That is best done through compassion, wisdom and love. They have to address the youth through reason as to why dressing skimpily attracts attention of the wrong persons, of the pleasure seekers. Also dress should be an expression of who we are. To dress in a dignified way, gracefully is far more beautiful and draws the attention of the noblest and best of humanity than when you dress in a frivolous manner. Also there is a truth of sensuous beauty but it is best expressed by the way we conduct ourselves, through speech and gestures and walks and even dresses that can be used to enhance beauty than simply revealing dresses that seem like inviting hungry and lustful creatures. Of course one should also know that it could be dangerous in certain places and one is best adviced to express one’s freedom with caution. Try wearing a mini skirt or tight jeans in Mecca! These are rational and practical ways of explaining. Its spirit is to remove ignorance and not to pass a judgment. Most adolescents and adults do these things unconsciously, ignotantly imitating the worst of the West in ways and attire. There is a beautiful side of the Western World which they don’t know or see due to the power of falsehood through advertisement and propaganda. Similarly they are not aware of the beautiful side of the East, of India which is far from oversimplistically moralistic. They need education and not condemnation. Having done that one should leave each one free to go through their experiences and learning process which is what the law of karma implies. Moreover since we have entered the spiritual age, the moral authority no more works. You chose in freedom, to rise or to perish.
That is how I see it.
